Hi.

Jan 1 THE ONE MAKEUP TREND THAT NEEDS TO DIE

As I sit here over coffee, I know that what I am about to say in these next few paragraphs is not going to be very nice for some to hear. I know that coffee tends to give me balls of steel….and I am fully prepared for all the nasty comments, hate mail and death threats that will be left here.

Fire away…. I can take it. I also have my trusted Siamese cats to fight to their death protecting me.

STEP AWAY OR THEY WILL CUT YOU IN MY HONOR

As a general rule, I am a very POSITIVE person 90% of the time. I can find beauty in EVERYTHING…

In one of my many talk-a-thons with movie makeup artist Vivian Baker, she told me of her 70 year old makeup artist friend that loves all of the trends she sees today.

I laughed because I wish I could be like that. I wish I could love absolutely everything that is going on with beauty right now and is being shared with the general public.

But guess what?

I don’t.

Let me state for the record that I realize makeup is an art. How you want to roll, is, well…how you want to roll. Makeup is your art of expression of who you are..just like coloring your hair 50 shades of gray when you are 21.

I realize that the Youtube artists and Instagram “artists” are the only ones out there shouting from the rooftops. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I get it.

THE ONE MAKEUP TREND THAT NEEDS TO DIE:Stop it with the fucking highlight and contouring!!!!

Edited to add: The original source credit was wrong in the original post. We have corrected it. You can find her blog here:

I am posting some of these quotes from my pro friends but leaving out their names, because unlike me, they don’t have bad ass Siamese cats to protect them:

I swear, I am having to learn this ugly pintrest eye & contour look everyone is asking for. They look like Cruella De Ville from 101 Dalmatians.”

I had to hightlight and contour her for Jesus. When she moved her face, her face cracked…but she LOVED IT….WTF?

Highlighting and contouring was really intended for drag queens to soften their manly faces. That’s why Kim Kardashian needs so much of it. She has a man face. So you do need contouring if you have a man face.

There are few places where contouring is acceptable, and they’re all located in Boy’s Town. So unless you’re performing at the Kit Kat Lounge, step away from the contour trend.

You’re not fooling anyone.

And if you need someone to follow on Instagram to keep it real, check out this fabulous Instagramer. I love you Dilkoritbarose. Drinks soon?

If you recall, I wrote a piece on my favorite books for makeup artists. In that list was one some of the books by Kevyn Aucoin and how he “illustrated” how he highlights and contours.

While Kevyn didn’t invent the contour and highlighting trend, I think he brought it to life for the general public back in the mid 90’s.

But even when I first learned highlighting and contouring back in the mid 90’s I never took it literally.

So what happened?

Someone on Instagram/ Pintrest/ Youtube took this photo…and literally said “this is what you must do to your face, EVERYDAY” And the masses all took it as gospel:

Source: Kevyn Aucoin Making Faces Book.

Bullshit.

What Kevyn was illustrating is where you could technically highlight and contour-but softly. Doesn’t mean that actual technique was to be taken verbatim. And if he did, it was the 90’s when there was no such thing as digital cameras to show all of the makeup that was done. The darker colors on the face represent where you use darker shades, not necessarily “brown”. The outline of a lip is with a darker shade with a lip pencil. That pencil could be in red, pink, brown….not necessarily this particular color. Sheesh.

Also, he was shooting most of his looks in a photo studio. With controlled light. With appropriate angles. Not in real life out on the street.

This is a new day and a new age. Even us pro makeup artists are re-learning, re-adjusting and re-doing makeup techniques because of digital media. What looked good in the 1920’s didn’t look good in the 1990’s. And what looks good in the 1990’s before digital film doesn’t look good today. We are evolving.

Highlighting and Contouring is a play on light. -Sonia Roselli

The Squeaky Instagram artists are preaching this:

You can follow her @dressyourface on instagram. She has a ton of followers.

You can follow her @jadeeveryday80 on Instagram.

I am not bashing these creatures…they are just

misinformed

do it because everyone else is doing it and it gets them a shit ton of likes.

have no clue what a real makeup artist does on set

THE VIDEO THAT WENT VIRAL

I will confess. I watched this all the way through like a train speed racing through a crowded intersection of clowns…I hate clowns. Maybe this is why I hate all this bad makeup? My hatred of clowns? I need to go see my therapist for that. Anyone know a good one? Where’s my xanax? THIS VIDEO HAS 15 MILLION PLUS VIEWS!

MY PRO CONFESSION

I gotta tell you. It is RARE you will EVER see me doing this much contouring on an everyday woman or a bride. EVER.

Brides are paying me for my expertise. My expertise say this type of highlighting & contouring is not correct. If they want me to do this look, I tell them to go hire a cheaper makeup artist to be a technician. I am an artist and while the whole trend is an art in itself, it’s not an art you want in your wedding day photos. You will regret it in 5 years.

Days I am working in a controlled lighting situation, I may “sculpt” a cheek or “highlight” an area of the face but no way in hell am I doing any such nonsense and taking that much time to do that to a face. EVER! And I never paint so much on the face that the face itself will crack. And I am damn sure not painting the skin 14 shades lighter with foundation that isn’t even in the ballpark of the subject’s skin tone. That is left for Kabuki theatre.

In this photo, I softly did some sculpting but nothing to the extent you see on Instagram or Pintrest. It literally took me 1 minute or less to highlight and contour her face. I also shot it with a 100 mm macro lens. It’s also been slightly retouched and the contrast has been bumped up to from the original file. In other words, this shit isn’t real. Not even for me! It’s fantasy. So that is the difference folks. Real life vs. Fantasy.

I am doing soft highlighting and contouring that you can’t even fucking see.

Rinse and Repeat…Highlighting and Contouring is not meant to be seen, EVER in real life. Use it as a tool, not as a literal technique.

God. That felt really good to say.

Listen ladies….just because you don’t highlight and contour doesn’t mean you aren’t on “trend”…so the next time you are self doubting yourself, trust me, from a pro makeup artist perspective…you can kill this trend in your head right now. You don’t need it to this extreme.

What do you think of the highlighting and contouring trend all over social media?

If you are a pro artist, what do you think of this trend?

Please re-tweet, share and spread this message…Let’s kill this trend. I wonder if this can be done? I doubt it. The trend it bigger than all of us and it’s a zombie that refuses to die.